A Love so Orange
by Rumors
Summary: Ron doesn't love in red, he loves in orange. This is so damn fluffy it hurts. Why do people let me do this?


A Love so Orange by Rumors

Disclaimer: Not mine, just borrowing.

She wore carrot earrings. Or rather she wore a carrot earring. Its mate had gotten lost, misplaced or simply not put on that morning. Whatever the reason, Ron could not help but stare, not at the earring, but at the other ear where something should be, but wasn't. It bothered him.

The next day it was radishes. But this time, both ears were decorated. She noticed him looking at her again and turned to look back at him with those large eyes of hers. He looked away, embarrassed, but from being caught staring or from staring at Luna Lovegood, he couldn't tell.

It seemed like she had a vegetable for every day of the week, and when she ran out of those she switched to fruits or odd-ball animals like platypus or one of the made up creatures they ran stories about in _The Quibbler_. He always noted what earrings she wore; every day at breakfast he would look for her across the Great Hall and squint at her to find out what she was wearing that day.

As the year wore on, her jewelry collection must have gotten muddled because the earrings started to become mismatched. Lemons and strawberries with strange animals, the vegetables had disappeared completely from her collection except for the single carrot earring. That always confused him, that single earring. Why didn't she just put something in the other side, regardless of whether or not it matched. She did it with everything else. Then she caught him staring at the spot where a carrot earring should have been and smiled, and despite himself he smiled back.

During DA practices she wouldn't wear any jewelry. He could understand why, but somehow it just didn't seem right to him, to see her looking like the other girls who also divested themselves of rings and whatnot for practice. But then, when they were practicing tossing curses, they all took their shoes off to make things marginally safer and he saw she wore bright orange socks. He grinned at that.

It was the first Quidditch match of the season, against Hufflepuff. He wasn't worried, mainly because they had just been forced to switch over all their Chasers as the previous lot had just graduated. The Slytherins still chanted "Weasley is our King," but it didn't bother him anymore after a year of continual exposure. He was just getting ready to go out when Luna grabbed his arm, and tucked a bright orange wildflower into a lapel of his uniform and left without a word.

Christmas was coming, and he had been able to get presents for everybody thanks to Fred and George helping out the family with profits from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. But he still had nothing for Luna. But why should he get her anything, anyway? It wasn't like they were close friends. But he did think about her a lot and she always seemed to say the right thing when he was angry or otherwise upset. Yeah, he decided, he needed to get her something. But what? He wandered Hogsmeade looking through the normal gift shops, finding everything too… normal, too boring for Luna. She liked things that were unique, special. Past the gift shops and more into the normal shopping district of the village, a toy shop caught his eye. They had a bin outside for all the toys that were damaged or other people didn't want. Right on top was a stuffed teddy bear. Getting closer he realized why some people might not want it. It was very sad looking and had garishly bright orange fur, but it looked like it needed to go to someone who would appreciate it. He had just the person in mind.

Quite a few of the DA had stayed for the Winter Hols, and they decided that they should have a Christmas celebration together. In a flurry of wrapping paper and childish glee, the whole of the gifting was over in a few minutes for most people. He wondered how Luna had fared. She had received pathetically generic gifts, quills, ink, and the like. Useful, but hardly the kind of things friends would give. It looked like Ginny had gotten her a new set of earrings, though. The last present seemed to puzzle her, and he watched avidly as she studied the wrapped bundle. She turned it over in her hands, as if trying to divine the contents, and then she visibly brightened once she read the small tag: _To: Luna From: Ron. _She looked up at him, grinning broadly and tilted her head at him. He got up and walked over to her.

"You know, I got you something," she said without preamble. "But I didn't want to put it under the tree."

He sat down by her. "Well, you could give it to me now, and we could open our presents together."

That dreamy smile again. "Just what I was thinking." Then a box appeared before him, wrapped in bright orange paper. He grinned and began to assault the hapless box. She had made him a scarf, out of about fifty different materials, but it somehow looked good like everything that was there belonged where it was. And he needed a new scarf too, but Mum was too busy to make them anymore. "Thanks, Luna, it's great." He glanced over to Luna to find her staring at him with unabashed joy, the disturbing little bear in her lap. "So, you like it, then?" he asked.

"I love it," she said. He scooted a little closer.

Boy, did he ever get teased about "cozying up to his stalker" later that day. Harry had been the worst, but once Ron threatened to throttle him if the other boy insulted Luna one more time, the teasing stopped. No one, he thought, should be teased just because they were different or believed in weird things. Hermione only smiled at him in a strangely proud way. Ginny kept giggling, but he knew she was more laughing at him than anything else, and she had done that for long it was pointless to get her to stop.

Later in the winter, they hosted Wizarding War orphans at Hogwarts. Ron had suggested they all make desserts with the kids, and Luna told everybody her recipe for spiced apples. That had promptly landed the two of them the duty of putting the whole thing together and supervising it. That afternoon had gone down as one of Ron's favorites. It had taken some time for the kids to open up to the two of them, but Luna's serene nature and dreamy smiles had drawn them to her as she showed them how to put the recipe together. They set them to bake to get them warm and Ron ran them around outside in the perfect snow. That, of course, had resulted in all the kids ganging up on him and Luna laughing in the background. Hermione had come out then, saying that dinner was ready for them and they ran back inside. Ron lay down in the snow for a little while, looking up at the grey sky. Then Luna's face came into view. She was wearing an orange hat that clashed horribly with the rest of her clothes. As she smiled down at him, he noticed that her eyes seemed a little more focused when she looked at him.

He stood, brushed himself off, and was promptly hit with a snowball. Ron turned around in time to see Luna running away, giggling. He easily caught up to her and picked her up, just now realizing how tiny she was especially in comparison to him. Throwing her over his shoulder he walked back out to where the snow was the deepest. "Now," he said, "Did you think I'd let you get away with that? Sorry, love, but you've got an appointment with a snow bank here."

"What'd you call me?" Her voice wasn't breathless, but it had a different lilt to it that caught him off guard. He set her down, not in the snow bank.

"What'ya mean?" Ron, Merlin bless him, was a bit oblivious.

"Love. You called me 'love,'" she said earnestly.

"Yeah… I did." He was still trying to understand what was so important.

"I like it when you call me that." She was completely focused on him now.

"Really? Well, then…" He trailed off, unsure of what to do. What did he feel about this tiny girl, really? Did he think she was loony? No. They had become good friends. He knew that. He was starting to realize that she did like him, a lot. While he though she was still looking up at him, focused and intent. It made him nervous, but in a good way like he didn't want to mess anything up because he wanted to make her happy. Well, he'd risk it.

Ron leaned down and kissed her, just a quick peck on her lips, but as he pulled away she fair jumped on him to kiss him much more soundly. He was surprised for a moment and then became caught up in the kiss, holding her tightly to him. She tasted like oranges. The next day she wore carrot earrings, both of them.


End file.
